


Danse Macabre

by Talso



Category: The Red Shoes (1948)
Genre: Gen, News Media, Unconventional Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25495063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talso/pseuds/Talso
Summary: When Victoria threw herself from the balcony, she vowed neither Boris nor Julian should have her love or her art.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12
Collections: Limited Theatrical Release 2020





	Danse Macabre

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tanaqui](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanaqui/gifts).



`The Times, cutting dated 10 October 1950`

**Ballerina found dead**

LONDON — Miss Caroline Clifford, a principal ballerina with the Ballet Lermontov, was found dead yesterday morning at her home in Tavistock Place, Bloomsbury.

Police were called to the flat after Miss Clifford (24) failed to attend a rehearsal at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Miss Clifford was in preparation to dance the role of _The Girl_ in a revival of _The Red Shoes_. 

According to police sources, there was no evidence of foul play. The suspected cause of death is accidental poisoning by coal gas, with a strong smell of gas noted when the flat was entered. An inquest will be held shortly.

A statement issued on behalf of the Ballet Lermontov said, “We were greatly saddened to learn of the death of Miss Clifford. She was one of the most talented dancers to have graced our company and we will keenly feel her loss. In light of these tragic circumstances, and the difficulty of securing a second replacement in the role of _The Girl_ at this late stage, we will be postponing the revival of _The Red Shoes_ until next season.”

Miss Olga Klimova, another principal ballerina with Ballet Lermontov, had originally been selected to dance the role, but was incapacitated by a broken ankle caused by the collapse of an improperly secured stage flat.

In the words of this paper’s ballet critic, Mr Aubrey Grey, Miss Clifford was “greatly admired for the technical precision of her dancing and the feline grace of her performances.”

* * *

`The Times, cutting dated 20 September 1951`

**Ballet impresario killed in freak stage accident**

LONDON — It has been announced that Mr Boris Lermontov, impresario of the Ballet Lermontov, was killed yesterday during a meeting at the Royal Opera House.

According to witnesses, Mr Lermontov (57) was injured when a sandbag used as a stage weight fell on him while he was standing in the wings. A doctor was called, but Mr Lermontov was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are investigating how the sandbag came to fall. A witness reports that the rope securing the sandbag was in good condition and appears to have been either improperly tied or deliberately loosened. No one was seen on the fly floor close to where the sandbag was secured at the time of the incident and all personnel known to be in the theatre at the time can be accounted for by other witnesses.

Mr Lermontov was renowned for both the high quality of his company’s productions of works drawn from the classical repertoire and his commissioning and championing of new works. At the time of his death, Mr Lermontov was discussing the staging of one of these works, _The Red Shoes_. The production had been postponed from last season after one of the company’s principal ballerinas, Miss Caroline Clifford, was found dead from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning arising from a faulty gas oven in her flat.

* * *

`The News of the World, cutting dated 23 September 1951`

**“VICKY! MY DARLING VICKY!”**

**Ballet Chief’s last words — for dead ballerina?**

**“Cursed” Ballet Cancelled**

Ballet chief Boris Lermontov called out to one of his former stars as he lay dying on the stage of the Royal Opera House after being hit by a falling sandbag.

His final words,“Vicky! My darling Vicky!” are believed to refer to Victoria Page. Page was a principal ballerina with Lermontov’s company who died in sensational circumstances when she fell from a balcony onto train tracks in Monte Carlo.

“He was looking straight up at where the sandbag came from when he called out,” said a stagehand who did not wish to be named. “He looked so happy. It was like he could see her up there and he was going to her.”

Lermontov helped to make Page’s career when he cast her in the lead role of a new ballet, _The Red Shoes_. The two fell out after Lermontov dismissed the composer of the ballet, Julian Craster, from the company. Page also left the company shortly afterwards and married Craster a few weeks later. Lermontov and Page were reconciled a month before her death and Page died on the opening night of a revival of the ballet that made her name.

In a twist of fate, Lermontov was trying to revive _The Red Shoes_ at the time of his own death. The show had already been postponed from the previous year, after another dancer was poisoned by a faulty gas oven. A spokesman for the Ballet Lermontov said that the new production has been postponed indefinitely and will be replaced by Coppélia in this season’s schedule.

* * *

`The Times, cutting dated 2 March 1973`

**Noted composer dies in traffic incident**

LONDON — The victim of yesterday’s fatal accident in Covent Garden, in which a stack of unsecured vegetable crates fell from a delivery lorry, has been named as noted composer Sir Julian Craster.

According to a statement released by theatrical management company Worth and Gardener, Sir Julian (47) had been meeting with his representative, Mr Henry Worth, at his offices in nearby Bedford Street just prior to the accident.

Although Sir Julian composed three operas and a number of works for string quartet and piano, he is primarily know for his score for the ballet _The Red Shoes_. At the time of his death, Sir Julian was in preliminary discussions with the Royal Ballet Touring Company regarding the staging of a revival of the _The Red Shoes_. The ballet is closely associated with Sir Julian's first wife, Miss Victoria Page, who originated the principal role of _The Girl_ in the ballet.

Sir Julian is survived by his second wife, Lady Iris Craster, née Howard, from whom he separated in 1962, and their three children Irene (17), Edward (15) and Diana (13).

* * *

`Daily Mail, cutting dated 29 March 1973`

**“Cursed” Ballet Banned!**

A ballet which has claimed at least four lives will never be performed again.

The serial killer work, _The Red Shoes_ , has seen off two prima ballerinas, a ballet impresario and its own composer. Sir Julian Craster was killed earlier this month just after attending a meeting about a revival of the ballet. Now his widow says she will never give permission for it to be performed again.

According to a close family friend, Lady Iris Craster always hated the ballet and its connection with her husband’s first wife, the prima ballerina Victoria Page. Page suffered a gruesome death on the opening night of a revival of the ballet when she fell from a balcony onto train tracks in Monte Carlo.

“Iris felt Julian never really got over Victoria’s death,” the family friend added. “He would sit at his piano late at night, playing sections of the score over and over while staring at the photograph of Vicky he kept on the piano. Iris said that woman poisoned her marriage and she would rather he'd had a dozen affairs.”

The ballet’s other “victims” were Boris Lermontov, owner of the Ballet Lermontov, who commissioned the ballet from Sir Julian, and Caroline Clifford, a prima ballerina with the Lermontov company. Both died during an earlier attempt to revive the deadly ballet.


End file.
